My strawberry rhubarb pale ale. A non-homebrewing friend was interested in brewing it, so I put the recipe together and we did it together, and while I wouldn't have chosen to pair the style with those fruits (and it still wouldn't be my first choice, maybe a nice Berliner) it turned out pretty good and is a nice easy drinker.

This was my very first homemade brew and I really like it. I made it in my Fastferment. Nice fruity (peach, apricots, lemon) a bit of spice taste and just the right amount of carbonation. Even though it's a bit of a different style, it reminds me a lot of La Fin Du Monde both in taste, body and carbonation. My friend thought along similar lines. I'm only drinking it a week after bottling as the kit suggests I may, but it will likely get better with a few weeks more in the bottle. I'm impressed thus far, however. The kit includes: 300g munich malt, 400g rye malt, 150g flaked wheat, 3.6 kg light liquid un-hopped malt extract, 24g Chech Saaz (boiling hops), 20g Hallertau Hersbrucker (Finishing Hops), 170g bottling sugar and Belle Saison Yeast. The only thing I would do, is maybe kick up the bitterness a little by adding a few more grams of hops. A bit more spiciness would also be awesome by adding more rye. Other than that this is a lovely kit, I'm not ashamed to share with friends.

This was my very first homemade brew and I really like it. I made it in my Fastferment. Nice fruity (peach, apricots, lemon) a bit of spice taste and just the right amount of carbonation. Even though it's a bit of a different style, it reminds me a lot of La Fin Du Monde both in taste, body and carbonation. My friend thought along similar lines. I'm only drinking it a week after bottling as the kit suggests I may, but it will likely get better with a few weeks more in the bottle. I'm impressed thus far, however. The kit includes: 300g munich malt, 400g rye malt, 150g flaked wheat, 3.6 kg light liquid un-hopped malt extract, 24g Chech Saaz (boiling hops), 20g Hallertau Hersbrucker (Finishing Hops), 170g bottling sugar and Belle Saison Yeast. The only thing I would do, is maybe kick up the bitterness a little by adding a few more grams of hops. A bit more spiciness would also be awesome by adding more rye. Other than that this is a lovely kit, I'm not ashamed to share with friends.

Welcome to homebrewing and thanks for waking up this thread!

If you do this recipe again, I'd recommend adding some Chinook hops around 30-15 min from finish. They are a great compliment to the rye malt and bring out the spiciness you are looking for. German Tettnanger can do the same, but are pretty subtle and your Belgian yeast will likely stomp on them.

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This was my very first homemade brew and I really like it. I made it in my Fastferment. Nice fruity (peach, apricots, lemon) a bit of spice taste and just the right amount of carbonation. Even though it's a bit of a different style, it reminds me a lot of La Fin Du Monde both in taste, body and carbonation. My friend thought along similar lines. I'm only drinking it a week after bottling as the kit suggests I may, but it will likely get better with a few weeks more in the bottle. I'm impressed thus far, however. The kit includes: 300g munich malt, 400g rye malt, 150g flaked wheat, 3.6 kg light liquid un-hopped malt extract, 24g Chech Saaz (boiling hops), 20g Hallertau Hersbrucker (Finishing Hops), 170g bottling sugar and Belle Saison Yeast. The only thing I would do, is maybe kick up the bitterness a little by adding a few more grams of hops. A bit more spiciness would also be awesome by adding more rye. Other than that this is a lovely kit, I'm not ashamed to share with friends.

Welcome to homebrewing and thanks for waking up this thread!

If you do this recipe again, I'd recommend adding some Chinook hops around 30-15 min from finish. They are a great compliment to the rye malt and bring out the spiciness you are looking for. German Tettnanger can do the same, but are pretty subtle and your Belgian yeast will likely stomp on them.

Ooh, thanks. That's exactly the type of tip I was looking for. How much of the Chinook hops should I add, around 20 grams or so?

Also, would the beer benefit from a longer boil? I ask because the recipe called for a 30 minute boil, once the first addition of hops are made. It actually took an awful long time to bring my 20L stock pot to a boil on an induction stove top, so I was concerned whether the entire thing was under powered (but when it did come to a boil it never lost that state, so I'm not sure). Guess what I'm trying to ask is whether the wort would be harmed in any way if I extended the boil to 60 minutes, instead of 30.

Ooh, thanks. That's exactly the type of tip I was looking for. How much of the Chinook hops should I add, around 20 grams or so?

Also, would the beer benefit from a longer boil? I ask because the recipe called for a 30 minute boil, once the first addition of hops are made. It actually took an awful long time to bring my 20L stock pot to a boil on an induction stove top, so I was concerned whether the entire thing was under powered (but when it did come to a boil it never lost that state, so I'm not sure). Guess what I'm trying to ask is whether the wort would be harmed in any way if I extended the boil to 60 minutes, instead of 30.

Definitely get your boil up to 60 mins and try to keep a rolling boil for that time (uncovered). It's more about breaking out the proteins and boiling off compounds and flavors you won't want. Your beer will be better. Yes, early hopping on a long boil will also give room to build more bitterness, but personally I like to put my hops more to work on flavor and aroma. As for longer, there is no harm in a longer boil if you are looking to concentrate sugars toward a bigger beer, but that's probably the only reason to go longer.

As for amount. Chinook is generally a pretty high alpha hop, but you will be using it later in the boil and not get as much of a bittering kick. I have a rye pale ale I make regularly where I like to push that character. In that I use 1 oz at 30 min and another at 20min into a 5 gal batch. It never overpowers, but saison type yeasts can be hard to predict and I don't have much experience with them. You might want to dial it back a bit to start.